Headline

UK Prime Minister, Truss, Sacks Chancellor

Published

2 years ago

October 14, 2022

British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Friday dismissed her Finance Minister, forcing Kwasi Kwarteng to carry the can for turmoil sparked by her right-wing economic platform as restive Conservatives plotted her own demise.

The chancellor of the exchequer was dismissed in person by Truss after he rushed back early from international meetings in Washington, multiple media reports said, and she was due later to hold her first Downing Street news conference.

There was no immediate announcement of his successor, who would become Britain’s fourth Finance Minister this year.

Financial upheaval sparked by the new government’s September 23 plan to slash taxes — financed via billions in more borrowing — has subsided somewhat since the Bank of England intervened in bond markets.

But the central bank was adamant it would end its bond-buying spree on Friday, and market analysts said only a bigger climbdown by Truss following Kwarteng’s disastrous budget announcement last month would avert fresh panic.

No timing was given for Truss’s news conference, but the announcement underscored the sense of peril as some Conservative MPs reportedly mobilised to unseat the new leader just five weeks since she succeeded Boris Johnson.

Kwarteng was due to conclude annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington this weekend, after earning a rebuke from IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on the need for “coherent and consistent” policies.

A Treasury spokesman confirmed Kwarteng had cut short the trip “to continue work on his medium-term fiscal plan” due on October 31, after Truss held hurried meetings with her own financial advisors on Thursday in his absence.

As UK broadcasters showed live footage of Kwarteng’s British Airways plane landing at Heathrow airport, government bond yields eased in a sign that markets did expect a volte-face.

Speculation was rife that Truss would row back on planned changes to corporation tax, having already changed her mind about cutting income tax for the highest earners.

The promised tax cuts were the centrepiece of Truss’s successful pitch to Tory party members that she rather than rival Rishi Sunak was the best candidate to replace Johnson.

That programme now lies in tatters, and Truss’s judgement is in question more than ever, after Sunak’s warnings were entirely vindicated: higher borrowing to pay for tax cuts served only to terrify the markets and drive up borrowing costs for millions of Britons.

Speaking in Washington on Thursday, Kwarteng had insisted that his job was safe. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said.

Truss has “total confidence” in her fellow free-marketeer, international trade minister Greg Hands told Sky News on Friday morning.

– ‘Romcom-worthy dash’ –

However, a new YouGov poll for The Times newspaper said 43 per cent of Conservative voters wanted a new Prime Minister in Downing Street.

Other polls show a mammoth lead up opening up for the opposition Labour party, threatening electoral meltdown for the Tories.

Hands said, “I don’t recognise” multiple reports that senior Tory MPs were plotting to unseat Truss by installing a new leadership team under her defeated rival Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, who also ran to succeed Johnson.

Pressed on whether Truss will still be in 10 Downing Street in a week, Hands told ITV, “Oh definitely.”

The Chancellor of the exchequer’s September 23 budget sparked markets chaos because of fears it would drive up state debt.

The pound tumbled to a record dollar low near parity with the greenback and bond yields surged, before stabilising.

With the Bank of England’s costly interventions ending Friday, markets have already priced in a fresh about-turn by the government, leaving Downing Street with no room for manoeuvre.

“Do it now,” Mel Stride, chairman of the Treasury select committee in the House of Commons, urged Kwarteng and Truss earlier Friday.

“If it doesn’t happen, then the markets may have an adverse reaction to that,” he said on BBC television.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, agreed with Stride’s analysis.

“There is a sense of urgency in this move and it would seem the market is optimistic that Kwarteng’s romcom-worthy dash through the airport suggests a dramatic reconciliation between stubborn existing policy and the U-turn investors have been waiting for,” she commented.

For many pundits, the self-inflicted damage risks proving terminal for Truss and her hard-right platform.

“This is a government in meltdown and an economic policy in tatters, and frankly I think the Conservative party should be hanging their head in shame at what it’s putting the country through,” senior Labour MP Ed Miliband told Sky News.

AFP.

Headline

LIST: Nigerian Passport Ranked Among Worst Globally

Published

2 hours ago

May 1, 2024

Editor

The Nigerian passport has been ranked among the worst on the globe highlighting significant challenges for Nigerian travelers seeking international mobility.

The latest assessment by VisaGuide’s World Passport Index ranked the Nigerian passport at 191 out of 199 countries above countries like North Korea (192), Iraq (193), Libya (194), Sudan (195), Pakistan (196), Afghanistan (197), Syria (198) and Somalia (199).

The ranking will raise concerns about the West African cpuntry’s recent efforts to improve mobility, including e-visa initiatives.

Meanwhile, the Singaporean passport came first on the chart as the strongest in the world, followed by the Italian, Spaniard, French, and German passports.

The report added that the factors that contributed to this decline include visa-free access, diplomatic relations, and security concerns.

Other factors are visa-free travel, electronic travel authorisation, visa on arrival, electronic visa (e-visa), embassy or other government-approved visas, passport-free travel, and banned entry.

Additionally, the Henley Passport Index, which considers the number of countries passport holders can enter without a visa, previously listed the Nigerian passport among the worst 10 performing travel documents worldwide.

This consistently low ranking highlights the pressing need for Nigeria to address the underlying issues affecting its passport’s global standing.

See the list of top 20 passports in the world

Singapore
Italy
Spain
France
Germany
Hungary
Austria
Ireland
Netherlands
Belgium
Switzerland
Luxembourg
Finland
Japan
Sweden
Denmark
Norway
Czech
Portugal
Poland

Headline

14-year-old Boy Killed In London Sword Attack

Published

17 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Editor

A 14-year-old boy died on Tuesday after a man wielding a sword stabbed the youth, two police officers and two other people, in a street attack in east London, police said.

The man used what appeared to be a Samurai-type sword in the Hainault district shortly before 7:00 am (0600 GMT).

Police said they arrested a 36-year-old man using Taser stun weapons and took him into custody. The incident is not believed to be terror-related, they said.

Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell, from London’s Metropolitan Police, said all five victims were taken to hospital.

The two police officers were awaiting surgery for “significant” injuries, he added. But they, and those sustained by the two members of the public, were not believed to be life-threatening.

“It’s with great sadness that one of those injured in this incident… has died from their injuries,” he told reporters at the scene.

“He was taken to hospital after being stabbed and sadly died a short while after.”

King Charles III called the stabbings “horrific” and paid tribute to the “courage” of the emergency services, Buckingham Palace said.

“His thoughts and prayers are with all those affected — in particular, the family of the young victim who has lost his life,” a spokesman said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the stabbings “shocking”. “Such violence has no place on our streets,” he added in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“I’d like to thank the emergency services for their ongoing response, and pay tribute to the extraordinary bravery shown by police on the scene.”

Video footage and photographs posted on social media appeared to show a man in a yellow jumper on the streets near houses with the weapon.

Emergency service vehicles, including police, fire and ambulances, were seen behind cordons, including near the town’s underground railway station.

Hiding

One resident, who asked not to be named, said she hid behind a window while the suspect was outside her home shouting at police that “do you believe in God?”

“We were very scared and trying to hide and not show ourselves through the window because he was standing right next to our house and he could have seen us if he looked up,” she added.

“We were very scared and we didn’t know what to do.”

Another witness said he saw two police chasing the man, shouting at him to put down the weapon.

Police in England, Scotland and Wales are not routinely armed but do carry Taser weapons to disable suspects.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “absolutely devastated” by the incident and was in close contact with the city police commissioner.

“The police offices and emergency services showed the best of our city — running towards danger to protect others and I thank them from the bottom of my heart,” he said.

Last week, Sunak criticised the mayor’s record on knife crime in the British capital.

According to official statistics, knife crime increased in London by 20 percent in 2023, with 14,577 offences — one percent lower than pre-pandemic levels in the year to March 2020.

In England and Wales as a whole, there was a seven-percent increase in knife crime to 49,489 offences, with most (29 percent) in metropolitan areas, the Official for National Statistics said

AFP

Headline

UK-based Nigerian Doctor Loses Licences Over Sex For Free Botox Injections

Published

1 day ago

April 30, 2024

Editor

A United Kingdom-based Nigerian doctor, Tijion Esho, has lost his medical licences after being found guilty of giving free Botox injections in return for sex, Telegraph reports.

Esho is known for his medical opinion and commentaries on cosmetic surgery discussions on popular Television programmes, including ITV’s This Morning, BBC’s Morning Live and E4’s Body Fixers.

He was also regularly consulted on Body Fixers for E4, a channel operated by Channel 4, which aired for two seasons in 2016 and 2017 and made appearances on segments of BBC’s Morning Live until the summer of 2022.

Esho is the founder of the Esho Clinic, which also has locations in London, Liverpool, and Dubai and has a host of celebrity clients.

While appearing before a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service on Monday, he confessed to an improper emotional relationship with the woman, referred to as Patient A, with whom he exchanged “inappropriate” sexual messages on Instagram.

He argued that he never had any physical sexual contact with Patient A, who provided sex services via OnlyFans and webcams.

But, an MPTS panel sitting in Manchester ruled earlier this month that Dr Esho did have sexual intercourse with Patient A at his clinic in Newcastle upon Tyne in 2021 and administered Botox free of charge.

It was reported that the tribunal also ruled that, at a consultation months earlier, he had stroked her hair and rubbed himself against her after he made inappropriate comments about the shape of her bottom.

The tribunal also established that the doctor, last year, made similar remarks to Patient A and allowed her to masturbate him.

Hence, the tribunal found Dr Esho’s fitness to practise was impaired because of his misconduct and the tribunal announced on Saturday that Esho’s name should be removed from the medical register.

The tribunal’s reasons for imposing the sanction will be released next week.

According to the Telegraph, among the “inappropriate” Instagram messages sent to Patient A between July 2019 and February 2022 was an exchange in September 2019 when he said: “What you doing to me lol. Morning Glory. Bloody has me wanting the real thing. That’s like every man’s dream.”

In November 2019 he posted: “Why you making me bulge lol. Send more, don’t be sorry lol.”

The following month, he wrote, “Lol loving the tongue” and “Ha free mls [millilitres of botox] I’d need the whole booty and more”.

Weeks later, he told her, “My God having you for a night/every night is a dream but if we do it for me I break the doctors’ code and I’d be a dead man x lol.”

The tribunal also ruled the conduct of the doctor, also known as Oluwafemi Esho, was sexually motivated but did not find Patient A to be vulnerable because of her profession.

Botox injections, according to a medical website, Cleveland, improve appearance by relaxing muscles that cause wrinkles. They also treat medical conditions, including migraines, hyperhidrosis, overactive bladder, and eye problems.

To maintain results, treatments are repeated every three to six months.